Deviation from the Chosen Path
by anasi
Summary: On the day everyone aware of Majin Buu's existence celebrated his defeat, Gohan and the others makes a decision that alters the future of Earth. Whether it was a change for the better or not remains to be seen. (Characters will get more shine than they did in Super)


**A/N: So this is my first fic. I had always wanted to do this, but didn't act on that impulse until now. Super has its positive and negative points. But the thing that irked me the most was that it used the DBZ main characters poorly. Piccolo didn't get the role he deserve, Vegeta was reduced to a mere sideshow and Gohan…..well yeah. So I just wondered what I would do if it was up to me and here we are. If there are any issues with my writing (does anyone know the right font for this stuff?), please do not hesitate to let me know on how to improve myself. That being said, enjoy!**

Chapter 1: A Hero's Resolution

Like everything else associated with the Z fighters, the victory party in Capsule Corp was, for lack of better words, crazy. It started out normally enough with Mr. Satan ending his speech and sitting on his chair and simultaneously breaking wind at the same time. The culprit turned out to be a whoopee cushion which was promptly traced to Goten and Trunks. Dinner naturally started off with an eating competition between Goku and Vegeta. Krillin and Yamcha were happily conversing. Tien was one of the few not actively participating in conversations, opting to listen and occasionally giving a polite smile when a joke was said. Chi-chi and Bulma were happily gossiping. Piccolo wasn't keen to converse either. He just stood there looming in the background with a scowl plastered on his face.

Things really went out of hand when the alcohol came out. "NO GOKU! I KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR GOHAN! HE WILL TRAIN UNTIL HE IS THE STRONGEST FIGHTER IN THE WORLD! I DON'T WANT HIM TO BE LIKE YOUR LOSER FRIENDS GOKU."

_Five minutes earlier_

"Trunks, are we allowed to drink this?" "Of course Goten. Why are you such a killjoy?" "What's a killjoy?"

Exasperated, Trunks was going to go into a detailed explanation on what a killjoy was when he heard footsteps from behind him. "No Trunks, you cannot drink", Chi-chi said. "Why are you drinking, Mrs. Chi-chi?" "You are too young", explained Chi-chi patiently. Then she took a sip.

_Present_

"But Chi-chi….wait that doesn't sound right….." said a very confused Goku. Krillin, on seeing this, laughed so hard that he started banging a surprisingly solid wall. Imagine his horror when that wall turned out to be Piccolo. Piccolo promptly removed his cape. "I am not the same Krillin from 12 years ago. If you want a fight, don't expect me to roll over and play dead", Krillin said with determination.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Krillin yelled out while rolling over, tightly wrapped in Piccolo's cape. Between his fits of laughter, Yamcha had time to say,"at least he didn't play dead!"

However, in the jovial festivities, no one noticed that one member of the Z fighters was absent. No one except Videl. "Gohan…."

The man in question was standing on the roof of Capsule Corp, observing the festivities with a melancholy look on his face. _If only I was not so cocky,_ he thought with a sigh. Without turning back, he said "hey Videl, bored of the party?" "No, if anything, they are a bit too interesting." "Well that's nice to hear." "Gohan, what's going on with you?" Videl asked softly. "It's nothing, just something I can solve by myself. Videl frowned. This wasn't like him to shut others out. He was the most open person she knew, barring the fact that he hid the truth about the Cell games. "Gohan, you know that I am there for you right?"

"It's just that I could have prevented all those deaths that happened today if I was more competent. I was strong, stronger than I have ever been, stronger than even my father and Vegeta. And yet I failed. I allowed Buu to absorb Gotenks and Piccolo and even got absorbed myself. I failed to keep the promise I made to my father seven years ago. It's like the Cell games all over."

Videl looked sadly at the boy who went through horrors that no person, let alone a child should go through. She knew that Gohan blamed himself for all those deaths. She also knew that there was no point in convincing him to believe otherwise. Consoling him was not going to work. "Well, you may be right, you may be responsible for all those deaths. Then it's obvious what you have to do isn't it?" "Make sure you don't repeat those mistakes. Learn from them and be a better person". Gohan looked at Videl and his face finally broke into a grin. "Thanks Videl. Now I know what to do". And suddenly he started blushing. "Ummmmm, Videl uhhhhhh, I, uhhhh…." And Videl, realizing what he was trying to say started blushing herself. She also realized that it would be next morning by the time he said it. So she walked up right to him and kissed him full on the lips.

XXXX

They held hands and looked over from the roof at the aftermath of the party. Goten and Trunks, having eaten too much sugar, was running around like Vegeta confronted with a worm. Goku and Bulma were repeatedly dousing a knocked out Chi-chi with buckets of cold water to wake her up. And poor Krillin was still thrashing around in Piccolo's cape.

"Hey Piccolo, you look weird with only a cap", Gohan innocently pointed out. "Atleast it looks better than your Saiyaman suit", Piccolo replied gruffly, but with a smile on his face. "Hey, it's a cool suit", pouted Gohan. "Right Videl?" He looked uncertainly at Videl who was clearly trying not to laugh. He gave a dejected sigh.

See you later then Videl, looks like my mom finally woke up. Sure enough there she was, awake, grumpy, cold and sopping wet. "Let's go home Gohan", Goku said softly so as to not annoy Chi-chi.

XXXX

Gohan took a deep breath to relax after the warm-up and going through with the basic katas. He noticed that while his movements were not as sloppy as they were before, it was far from perfect. He jumped when he heard a cheerful voice call our "HEY GOHAN!" "Dad?" he called out. "So you started training again huh?" At this, Gohan turned serious. "I won't let you down again dad". Goku frowned," I am to blame too. I thrust a responsibility upon you without ever asking if that was what you wanted. I am sorry Gohan." Gohan smiled sadly, "When we are as strong as we are now, we have little choice." The awkward silence that followed was broken by Goku. "Alright so Gohan, since you are training, I wanted to help. Let's spar. Don't use you unlocked power, it won't be a fight so much as a beatdown. Remain in your base form. We will start from the basics." They both got into position. Both of them waited for the other to make the first move. A slight tense in the muscles and Gohan charged as Goku got ready to block.

BOOM!


End file.
